The Glass House Mountains and 5 handy tips for mobile living

While being in Noosa work has been our main objective, working as many hours so we can save some money for a few months of travel. That being said any days we do get of we try to make the most of, so when one of my shifts got canceled and we both had 2 days of we decided to go explore the Glass house mountains. We had seen this spectacular mountain range when we were very briefly working in Caboolture picking strawberries but had not had the chance too explore them. The Glass House mountains are made up of 13 peaks created during a period of volcanic activity around 27 million years ago, insane right! Roughly an hour from Noosa we set out stopping in Caloundra to visit a skatepark I have always wanted to visit. Using wiki camps we found a free camp site just out of Caloundra that we went and spent the night. For trips like this we just take the wagon fold the seats down and use the mattress from a swag, its quick easy and perfect for small trips. The next day we spent driving on the Glass House mountain scenic route stopping to take in the beautiful views and deciding on which hike do in the afternoon. Coincidentally we drove past the strawberry farm we worked/slaved at and it was completely bulldozed. Id heard the person found guilty of putting needles in the strawberries was an older lady from Caboolture who had a dispute with the farm she was working on. So potentially we could have been working on the same farm that this originated from which is pretty crazy and I’m glad all of this is behind us. That night we decided to climb Mt Ngungun to watch the sunset and boy were we in for a treat. The Mt Ngungun summit walk is a grade 4, 2.8km return walk. Even during the late afternoon heat on a humid day we found the walk was not as difficult as we first thought but I would definitely advise bringing plenty of drinking water. Upon reaching the top you get the most incredible view of Mt Coonowrin and Mt Beerwah lined up. It looks as if they are right next each other but in reality they are miles apart. Watching the sun set over this view with Elke is one of the highlights of the trip so far.

Wether you are living out of a car/van permanently or just taking small overnight trips here are 5 tips that will make life easier without having to figure out the hard way like we did.

1 Wiki camps, this app is incredible. You can easily search for camp sites with any variable, Simply enter details of the site you are looking for and it will show upon the map. So for Example change the setting to free camp site, with toilets and drinking water and the map will have pinpoints of all recognised sites with these variables with a brief summary and a star rating. It will even give you directions there.

2 Insect repellent, this is a must especially if your up north. The insects will drive you insane, a can of Aeroguard will normally suffice but mosquito coils can keep insects away from an open car which is a must in the humid hot weather up north. Nothing worse then having to be locked up inside a hot car on a humid sticky night while a nice cool breeze could be cooling you down. I have found if really in trouble deodorant applied in massive quantity can be an effective way to keep mosquitoes and other insects at bay.

3 thongs, there is nothing worse than a dirty, sandy bed especially when you don’t have the opportunity to wash your bedding freely on the road. So when you wake up in the night and need to pee don’t go barefoot, but you can’t be bothered putting shoes on right! Simple hide a pair of thongs under your car at the door, this will save you sleeping in a dirty bed thank me later. And there thongs not flip flops.

4 curtains and finding the right spot, unfortunately at popular fee camp sites the good spots are more than likely taken. A good spot is away from street lights, roads and other things that will annoy you. You may not think that little street light or flashing light will keep you up but I can almost guarantee improbably will. This is were curtains come in, you don’t need to go over board but a simple curtain on each side of your vehicle will help a lot also give some privacy.

5 put the phone down, we are guilty of neglecting life and wasting time on our phones and or other devices myself included. Don’t be the anti social guy in the corner, go socialise with other people often at free camp sites you will be with like minded people out exploring. I would rather be out making new friends then mindlessly scrolling through the same fb posts.